Contents tagged with Russia

  • Aksyonov: Crimea morally supports separatists in eastern Ukraine

    The head of Russian-Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, said the inhabitants of the occupied peninsula "morally support" the separatists in eastern Ukraine.

    Aksyonov stated the Crimea is ready to cooperate with the separatists in the Donbas, Glavnoe reported.

    "All of the unrecognized state formations of the former Soviet Union clearly gravitate towards Russia. Holding a referendum, collecting signatures, dreaming of joining the group. Transnistria, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, the Republic of Novy Rossiya, …

  • Former Latvian President: We cannot let Russia tell our country what to do

    The former President of Latvia, Valdis Zatlers, discussed his recent visit to Moscow where he presented his book of memoirs, This is who I am! Zatlers shared his impressions with journalists from Latvijas Avīze, BaltNews reported.

    “The Russian media shows everything bad about Latvia and it ignores questions asked in the Diplomatic Academy concerning the improvement of relations with Latvia,” said the former President, urging the exploration of Russian diplomacy deeper than it is currently …

  • Russian man found guilty of extremism for posting 'Crimea is Ukraine' on social media

    A Russian court in Tver sentenced mechanical engineer Andrei Bubeev to two years and three months in a penal colony for posting "extremist content" on his social media page, Radio Svoboda reported. 

    The content that was deemed to be extremist by the court was a post on Bubeev's VKontakte page which read "Crimea is Ukraine".

    Bubeev was charged with public calls to commit extremism and activities aimed at violating the territorial integrity of Russia.

    The human rights organization Memorial has  …

  • Lavrov: Russia would consider selling tanks, armored vehicles and combat aircraft to Iran

    Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, has said that Russia would consider selling tanks, armored personnel carriers and combat aircraft to Iran.

    “Bans against Iran for certain weapons such as tanks, armored personnel carriers and combat aircraft were removed and instead changed to five-year licensing regimes. This means that Iran can now consider buying these types of weapons. We will definitely consider their proposals if they contact us in this regard. I will however repeat that the S-300 …

  • Estonian Defense Minister: Russia regularly violates our airspace

    Russian warplanes regularly violate Estonian airspace. This was reported by the Minister of Defense of Estonia, Hannes Hanso, during a visit to Paris on the 3rd of May. He added that this is “extremely reckless behavior” by Moscow.

    “They are violating our airspace fairly regularly. They fly over the Baltic Sea with their transponders switched off,” Hanso reported.

    He added that even though military radar can detect a plane which has its transponders turned off, civilian aircraft are unable to …

  • Savchenko refuses to sign the documents for extradition to Ukraine

    Nadiya Savchenko has refused to sign the documents for extradition to Ukraine. She explained her decision in a letter posted on her Facebook page.

    “I am outraged! The officials brought me a set of documents to complete for my extradition to Ukraine. I laughed wildly after reading them. The first question asked what my purpose was for crossing the Russian border. Can you imagine such a question? I answered that I was kidnapped by the Russian secret service. They immediately changed my answer to …

  • Poroshenko issues indefinite moratorium on payment of 'Yanukovych's debt'

    The President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, signed the law adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine that placed an indefinite moratorium on the repayment of Eurobonds on the loan provided by Russia to Ukraine in December 2013.

    The corresponding law amending Article 4 of the Law of Ukraine “On specific features of dealing with sovereign and local debt guaranteed by the state” was signed by the President on the 29th of April.

    The law excluded a phrase "and will remain in force until the 1st of …

  • Media: Russia blocked the UN's condemnation of nuclear testing by North Korea

    Reuters reported that Russia has amended the statement of the U.N. Security Council condemning the nuclear tests of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), effectively blocking the adoption of the document. Last week, Pyongyang tested two ballistic missiles, which prompted British Deputy U.N. Ambassador Peter Wilson to say “The Security Council should respond quickly. We don’t understand why Russia has blocked the statement but the other members of the Security Council must accept …

  • Intelligence: Russian soldiers began to dismantle and transport metallurgical plant from the Donbas

    As reported by the press service of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, separatists have begun dismantling industrial facilities in the Donbas region."On May 3rd servicemen of the 4th Division Motorized Rifle Brigade (Alchevsk) and the 2nd Army Corps of  Russian Armed Forces (Luhansk)  started the dismantling and removal of equipment from the Alchevsk Metallurgical Plant,” the statement read.Earlier, intelligence reported that Russian Presidential Aide …

  • Russian production of a next generation missile boat to begin in Crimea after Victory Day

    The construction of a new generation missile boat, named Storm, will begin on the 10th of May in Feodosia.

    The small Project 22800 boat was designed by the Almaz Central Marine Design Bureau.

    According to the Defense Ministry, the short term goal is to build more than 10 such boats for the Russian Navy.Two more small missile boats, named Hurricane and Typhoon, are already being built at the Pella Shipyard in St. Petersburg.These new generation missile boats have a displacement of 800 tons and …